K, so I'm going to be honest- I haven't written for SIX WHOLE WEEKS! It's been a very full six weeks! I have been loving on my sweet little Sadie for six weeks and haven't had time to sit and write. I'm bummed because I hate missing out on details, but really, there wasn't much of an option. SO, I've decided to just hit the highlights rather than try to journal about each day individually, giving bare minimum details.
Brad left on his Cross Country Camp out on the 15th. This was a hard one for me to let him go. It was new to have a kid go camping with someone other than church. But I felt like it was the right thing and knew he would have a good time. Which he did! He also threw up a bunch! HA! He had a lot of fun stories about The 1-5 game and running every morning, so hard that he couldn't eat breakfast, playing in the mud, the XXL t-shirt, etc. He had a good time. He made sure to spend lots of time with Sadie on Sunday because he knew he wouldn't get to see her for a week. We were worried she'd be all grown up by the time he got back, but she hasn't really grown all that fast yet.
Nate continued to work his mid shifts while we were on his post partum leave. That was unfortunate for him and a bummer for me. I missed him when I was up with Sadie in the night. But I was grateful the nights were fairly uneventful in that Jack and Molly didn't need me too much.
We got to see Kenni Cole at Playgroup at Gailey Park. Nate dropped me off so that I didn't have to drive or carry the car seat. Such a gentleman. It was fun to see her and hang out with Emily and Kenni. It was a little early to be out, but also nice.
I had a really hard time coming down off the narcotics this time around. The pain was pretty unbearable. I kept taking the Ibuprofen, which was a huge blessing. Then when that ran out, I for some reason thought I needed to stop taking ANY Ibuprofen, so I went a few days without and just about died! Emotionally it was too much to handle with the pain. It was a struggle. But a huge relief at my two week appointment when he said I was fine to keep taking ibuprofen.
Nate did his booth at the Farmer's Market every Thursday that he could even right after we had Sadie- which blew everyone away, but really seemed just like him :). He loves it. So while he was doing the market that first week, the Flittons (from Alaska) stopped by! He sent them to the house and I got to sit and talk with Carissa and Slade for a few minutes. They got to see Sadie. That was a fun little surprise!
On the 20th we got to go over to Natalie Clemens' house and do Sadie's Newborn Photo shoot! I was really looking forward to this and couldn't wait for it, but then got really nervous and stressed right before. Sadie did perfectly almost the entire time- slept through most of it! Which was a bummer in that we only got one picture with her eyes open! But they turned out so good! I really love what she did with them and was happy to pay full price. I wish I had done these with all my kids!
The kids showed off their new little sister to all their friends. That was fun. Everyone got to hold her.
We went down to Jaxson's homecoming on the 21st. Sadie slept through Sacrament meeting like a champ! We had a nice time at the house afterwards as well. Everyone passed her around, even though we weren't supposed to. I loved that Uncle Rob wanted to hold her so bad :). That was cute. Hannah got to meet her as well. It was a fun time. I only wish Ruth could have held her more and when she was happier. Ruth brought me into her room to give us some more gifts for Sadie- a beautiful blanket she had crocheted- we remembered it was the one she worked on at the Manti Pageant. A cute little rain coat from Nancy, a sleeper, bib and my personal favorite- a Grandpa Russ bear!! She had had Alana make a few extras for any more grandkids to come- pretty cool! I can't wait to teach Sadie about her grandpa Russ.
On Pioneer Day we went to see the movie The Fighting Preacher with Becky, Jen, Grandma Ruthie, and the Taylors. That was a cool movie. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. We went to Leatherby's after. Lots of fun. Sadie slept through the entire movie and the ice cream/fries. Woke up at the very end so we could feed her in the car before we left :).
We learned about Sadie's Preauricular Sinus! Pretty cool little birth defect. Hopefully ends up being just a cool little ear dimple... no hearing loss please :).
For Nate's birthday we took everyone down to Thanksgiving Point. The girls and I had wanted to show the boys the butterfly biosphere, so we went there first and then over to the Dinosaur museum. That was a lot of fun. I hope it was fun enough for a Fortieth birthday! We had lunch at Smash Fish which ended up being REALLY GOOD! I loved it! I think Nate liked it too. On our way home we grabbed some buns and then got Nate home just in time for the market. I still can't believe he spent his 40th birthday selling smoked Pulled Pork Sandwiches, but he did! And I think he actually loved it :). We got him a cute pin- while he was in Costco, we ran into Zurchers- to wear so that everyone knew it was his birthday. The next day, I arranged for Travis and Emily to go to an Escape room with us and then Tucanos afterwards. It was a really fun double date/birthday celebrating for Nate. I loved the Escape room- that was our first time doing that. Really cool! And we solved it with only a minute to spare!
I spent a lot of time nursing, crying, nursing, crying and nursing! And crying! For the whole six weeks. It was an emotional roller coaster for sure. But we spent a lot of time staring at Sadie too. Holding her, passing her around, and arguing over who gets to hold her next :).
On August 5th we said goodbye to Nate, Brad, Luke and Noah (Noah got to go because they wanted to use the van for scout camp... even though he isn't quite a deacon yet) and then said goodbye to Charity and Kelly at EFY. This was a big week! We were without big kids the whole week. We somehow managed to survive! Erika was a huge help. We did a lot of fun things together and had a lot of down time where they all just played with their friends, so we survived! We even went down to Thanksgiving Point for the Museum of Curiosity. That was a fun trip- minus the crazy traffic between point of the mountain and Thanksgiving Point- the Maughans came with us. I'll admit it was a little more chaotic than I had wanted it to be- busier too- and there were a few moments where I was wishing I wasn't there. But it worked out. We played for a solid six hours! Kinda nuts! We went to Dairy Queen on our way home and oddly enough- the Maughans stopped there for their dinner as well! What are the odds? Fun times there as well. During that week we had play group in Bountiful, tried out the new Castle Park, had snow cones with Grandma and Simon, got some wood figures to paint, and went out to eat a bunch. We had wanted to see a movie and go swimming, but those two ideas never really panned out. Nate and the boys came home Friday- had tons of fun- and then I drove down to BYU at the crack of dawn to get the girls and stop for breakfast at Kneaders on our way home. I love that time because I get to hear about all their fun adventures while they are still fresh. I feel a little bad still because I was SO EXHAUSTED having stayed up half the night with Sadie- and waking up at 4:00 before driving down there, so I think my listening ears were not running on all cylinders, but it was a nice time. I'm glad they enjoyed EFY. This is the last year of it!
We went up to the Family meeting on the 11th. That was nice. Passed Sadie around a little there too.
Then Monday the 12th Charity had her wisdom teeth pulled! She and I got up at the crack of dawn, then Noah joined us- he was hoping to catch her in her looney state- and went to her 6:30 appointment. She went a little loopy right at first, which was a change in mood from her depressed, frowning state she had been in all morning, but she wasn't as much fun as we had hoped when she was coming out. I don't think she had been under long enough. Her teeth were fairly easy to pull, so that was good and bad at the same time. The recovery went really well considering! We kept up on her pain meds even through our camping trip! She was a trooper for sure!
Tuesday the 13th Brad got his braces on! This was another big one and caused a lot of pain for him during our camping trip as well. He did really good though. I was proud of him for still getting out and having fun fishing and such. He looks so teenager-y in his braces :). I'm glad we're getting this started! The sooner we start the sooner we can be done!
Thursday was my six week appointment. Everything looked good! I asked about a few things and then we were done. Felt a little sad to be done done. With this chapter. And knowing that we will never be back there again for another prenatal or postnatal appointment... kinda made me sad. I have to just turn that sadness off though. It's not productive. I need to enjoy these moments that I have. Enjoy them as the last ones they are, and cherish them. Let them make me excited and look forward to all that is ahead. The things I haven't experienced yet could be just as good as these ones, so I might as well stay positive. Easy to say, hard to do, but we'll survive.
I'll do separate posts for the camping trip with the Maughans and the first days of school! WHEW! Finally caught up!
Thursday, August 22, 2019
How Sadie got her name
I've done this with the last few kids, so I thought I better do it again :). Sadie's name came to me very early on. Well, actually, it was on the list of names we had been thinking of for Molly. I LOVE the name Sadie. It is one of my favorite names. I think the reason I didn't really consider it for Molly (besides the fact that Molly's name was Molly :) ) is because of Sadie Caldwell down the street. So this time around, I decided to ask Jami for "permission" early on so that I could really think it through. I REALLY wanted her name to be Sadie. I couldn't get it out of my head. I liked other names. Some that we considered were Annie, Amber, Daisy... and even though I liked all of these, I was really set on Sadie. I was glad that Nate liked it. It was my favorite. Then a few months into the pregnancy, after we had told the kids and seen their excitement for a new sister, and witnessed the love that they already had for her, I looked up the meaning of the name Sadie. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it means, "Little Princess" :). SEE!! It is her name:). I was sold. Course I had to wait for Nate to be sold :). He likes to pretend like we're considering other names and we don't really like to tell people what we are thinking of because it ruins things. So we waited. It was a lot of fun to call her Sparkle (the name Jack had wanted to name her) for the last half of the pregnancy, we found tons of clothes and accessories that said Sparkle on them, so that was fun. Molly had her own ideas of names. Some of hers were: Chica Linda, Rainbow, Flower, Easter Bunny, Easter Egg, Purple, Pig (because they're pink of course!), but no boy names of course. I felt bad that we were going to have to let her down. She had some cute ideas :). So anyway, during the last week or so, I got Nate to crack down and decide on a name. We picked Sadie! I was so happy and relieved to finally be able to think that for sure. Then I made him start thinking about a middle name. Originally, I had wanted to do Gracie or Grace, or Faith. Those were my two favorites. But they both gave her name too many ay sounds so we didn't go with either. Then one day, I was just going through some names in my head and the name Star popped in. I thought that was a cute first name back when we were thinking of names, but a little too bold for us :), so I crossed it out, but a middle name? I texted Nate somewhat flippantly, and said, "What about Star for a middle name?" And surprisingly, he LOVED it! This is when all the meaning came out and it turned into the perfect name for Sadie. We had loved the Spirit that she brought into our home, even just being inside of me. She had been so popular with all the kids- we were ALL just very much consumed with the excitement of her coming. Looking forward to her. She just seemed like a shining little star in our family! And a Star in the sense that she was very popular! It was the perfect name. And every time I see it or say it, I am reminded of how perfect it is. I can't wait to see what this little star pirncess does with her life. I can't wait to see how she benefits from the love and support surrounding her. It's going to be great!
Week of 7-7-19
GRANDPA'S HOUSE
My dad invited us up for dinner Sunday night. That was a fun time. We brought Nate's pulled pork and dad had everything else. We sat out in the backyard and talked and laughed. Steve was there, and we called Brent and facetimed with his family for a little bit too. It was a nice time! 7-7-19
BRAD PHYSICAL
We had a little impromptu Physical Exam for Brad on Monday. Luckily they were able to squeeze him in. He is a very healthy kid. It's fun to see all his numbers and know that he's perfectly fine. I'm so grateful for his activity level and all that he is involved in that help him to stay in shape and healthy. He's such a good kid. We got him a frosty after :). (the lady in front of us paid for $5 of our order because she felt bad for butting in line. funny I didn't even feel like she had) 7-8-19
DESMOND'S FOR DINNER
We had the Desmonds over for dinner and FHE this week! That ended up being a lot of fun! I was surprised at how well it all went! And glad that we were able to do that before we have the baby. 7-8-19
DENTIST
We had a bunch of dumb dentist appointments this week which was such a bummer. Noah and Jack needed work done on Tuesday. 7-9-19
LUNCH WITH DIANE
I got to go to Costa Vida with Diane on Tuesday. She was so funny when she realized and asked if I was pregnant! YEP! And I'm having my baby in two days! Nobody in Shadowbrook ward knew I guess. Kinda weird. I wasn't very good at getting the word out. It was a nice lunch though. Lots of chatting. Felt good. 7-9-19
DGL BOARD MEETING
We had a board meeting that went on way too long. We were able to discuss how we want to get the word out and build up our program district wide. We'll see if that can happen. I'm happy I will have a good excuse to not be around for a while. 7-9-19
PLAYGROUP SPLASHPAD
This was a fun playgroup. It was fun to talk to Emily and Natalie and Lisa about having our baby tomorrow! It's super exciting! The kids played a little and then walked to Fiiz for drinks. We're on our last bit of our last lap! It's almost here!!! 7-10-19
JULY 11TH!!!
The day had finally come!! I cannot tell you how excited I was to have this day here! It NEVER felt close! Even the day of, looking forward to 5:00 pm felt like forever!! So we made lots of plans. I knew I had to be done eating by 9:00am, so I was hoping to go to Kneaders and have some yummy chunky french toast with everyone as one last hurrah, but of course, we had forgotten about the dumb dentist appointments for Erika and Luke. This put the kabosh on my plans. But to improvise I ended up taking Erika and Luke to the Kneaders drive thru and eating our breakfast together on the way back home to where Dad was going to take them to the dentist :). It was a delicious breakfast. I was satisfied :). I let Nate take the kids while I tried to straighten up the house a little. It was really hard to move around at that point, so I didn't get a whole lot done and part of me just didn't care at all. Which is really unusual for me, but somehow knowing that the kids were going to be governing themselves in our house for the next four days, I just didn't feel the push to get it spotless like I usually do. Kinda weird, but then again, I was NOT myself at the end there. I was really struggling to survive. So when Nate, Erika and Luke got home, we took off for Rush Funplex! This was our "Last Big Hurrah"! It's tradition to do something the night before, but with this being an evening c-section, we did it the day of. I kept calling it Sparkle's Birthday Party.
We got two hour wrist bands (mainly because we needed to be back in two hours to get get ready for the hospital) and played hard! It was an interesting time for me, did a little reflecting on the pregnancy, and our time with 8 kids. It hit me that this was probably my last day ever being pregnant. Which I was okay with, just a realization. Everyone was happy and enjoying each others' company. I think my favorite part was watching everyone bowl. We had a great time! On our way home we stopped for some Arby's for lunch (not that I was able to eat anything), and provided the kids with some more last minute instructions. We were leaving the big kids in charge for the next couple days and wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. I was glad that we had this fun time together, I assumed they'd all be too tired to get into any trouble til the next time I saw them :). Time to shower and get ready to go meet our new little girl! 7-11-19
My dad invited us up for dinner Sunday night. That was a fun time. We brought Nate's pulled pork and dad had everything else. We sat out in the backyard and talked and laughed. Steve was there, and we called Brent and facetimed with his family for a little bit too. It was a nice time! 7-7-19
BRAD PHYSICAL
We had a little impromptu Physical Exam for Brad on Monday. Luckily they were able to squeeze him in. He is a very healthy kid. It's fun to see all his numbers and know that he's perfectly fine. I'm so grateful for his activity level and all that he is involved in that help him to stay in shape and healthy. He's such a good kid. We got him a frosty after :). (the lady in front of us paid for $5 of our order because she felt bad for butting in line. funny I didn't even feel like she had) 7-8-19
DESMOND'S FOR DINNER
We had the Desmonds over for dinner and FHE this week! That ended up being a lot of fun! I was surprised at how well it all went! And glad that we were able to do that before we have the baby. 7-8-19
DENTIST
We had a bunch of dumb dentist appointments this week which was such a bummer. Noah and Jack needed work done on Tuesday. 7-9-19
LUNCH WITH DIANE
I got to go to Costa Vida with Diane on Tuesday. She was so funny when she realized and asked if I was pregnant! YEP! And I'm having my baby in two days! Nobody in Shadowbrook ward knew I guess. Kinda weird. I wasn't very good at getting the word out. It was a nice lunch though. Lots of chatting. Felt good. 7-9-19
DGL BOARD MEETING
We had a board meeting that went on way too long. We were able to discuss how we want to get the word out and build up our program district wide. We'll see if that can happen. I'm happy I will have a good excuse to not be around for a while. 7-9-19
PLAYGROUP SPLASHPAD
This was a fun playgroup. It was fun to talk to Emily and Natalie and Lisa about having our baby tomorrow! It's super exciting! The kids played a little and then walked to Fiiz for drinks. We're on our last bit of our last lap! It's almost here!!! 7-10-19
JULY 11TH!!!
The day had finally come!! I cannot tell you how excited I was to have this day here! It NEVER felt close! Even the day of, looking forward to 5:00 pm felt like forever!! So we made lots of plans. I knew I had to be done eating by 9:00am, so I was hoping to go to Kneaders and have some yummy chunky french toast with everyone as one last hurrah, but of course, we had forgotten about the dumb dentist appointments for Erika and Luke. This put the kabosh on my plans. But to improvise I ended up taking Erika and Luke to the Kneaders drive thru and eating our breakfast together on the way back home to where Dad was going to take them to the dentist :). It was a delicious breakfast. I was satisfied :). I let Nate take the kids while I tried to straighten up the house a little. It was really hard to move around at that point, so I didn't get a whole lot done and part of me just didn't care at all. Which is really unusual for me, but somehow knowing that the kids were going to be governing themselves in our house for the next four days, I just didn't feel the push to get it spotless like I usually do. Kinda weird, but then again, I was NOT myself at the end there. I was really struggling to survive. So when Nate, Erika and Luke got home, we took off for Rush Funplex! This was our "Last Big Hurrah"! It's tradition to do something the night before, but with this being an evening c-section, we did it the day of. I kept calling it Sparkle's Birthday Party.
We got two hour wrist bands (mainly because we needed to be back in two hours to get get ready for the hospital) and played hard! It was an interesting time for me, did a little reflecting on the pregnancy, and our time with 8 kids. It hit me that this was probably my last day ever being pregnant. Which I was okay with, just a realization. Everyone was happy and enjoying each others' company. I think my favorite part was watching everyone bowl. We had a great time! On our way home we stopped for some Arby's for lunch (not that I was able to eat anything), and provided the kids with some more last minute instructions. We were leaving the big kids in charge for the next couple days and wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. I was glad that we had this fun time together, I assumed they'd all be too tired to get into any trouble til the next time I saw them :). Time to shower and get ready to go meet our new little girl! 7-11-19
Welcome Sadie Star Maynes!
We had already had such a big day, but it was about to get bigger! We got home from Rush Funplex just in time for me to take a shower and get all ready to go meet our baby girl. This was new for us to be going in so late in the day. I liked it for the most part, but it made for a very long day of anticipation and then a tired pregnant girl on the table. We got to the hospital just in time. They signed us in, told us we were brave for having 9 c-sections, bla bla bla, then got us all situated in our room. This always feels very routine, they ask a million questions, we listen to the baby's heartbeat and contractions (which coincidentally, I was having a lot of). We had a cool nurse who was telling us how content she is with having just one kid :). We couldn't help but brag about how awesome it is to have more than one and how fun it is to watch siblings interact. I'm pretty sure we converted her by the time we left :). We remembered that Nate hadn't given me a blessing yet, so while the nurses were out, we did that. Always a great way to calm my troubled heart. I get so nervous. I think I got more nervous with each one, not sure why. Then they walked us down to the OR. This is where things got a little messy. I felt like I needed everyone to stop and focus on what they are doing and to just take a minute. The nurses were training some new nurses I think- they were giving a LOT of instructions over in the corner, about the tools and such. The anesthesiologist was on his two way radio talking to someone on another floor about stroke after delivering and he was not quiet about it. In that echo-y room, that was all we could hear! It was kind of frustrating for me since he was doing my spinal block while he was talking. It was like he was on the phone. Kind of annoying. Not really a big deal though. I was doing my dumb shaking thing that happens the minute I walk into the OR. Not sure what that's all about, but it happens every time. Dr. Thackeray was trying to compensate a little for all the chaos, which was nice. He was talking about Dr. Miles, how we met him, who delivered which babies, lots of good distracting talk :). The spinal block took way longer because he had run into my vertebrae. This is not new for us, but unfortunately REALLY HURTS!! That was over though, and I went numb pretty quickly. The anesthesiologist finally got off the phone and offered to play some music. He didn't get the hint that I didn't want music, so he turned on Lady Antebellum. Stuck his phone right next to my ear. Kinda weird. I know he was just trying to be nice though. It was a good idea in theory. They got me open pretty quickly.
Then this was new, they pulled down the blue sheet and had just a clear one up so I got to see them pull my sweet baby girl out! I saw her pointy, full head of dark hair first! I was so excited to see her hair :). It was difficult to see anything because I had to lift my head up, so I didn't keep watching very long, but as Dr. Thackeray has told us and brought up again and again, her cord was wrapped around her neck THREE TIMES! Nate has said that it looked pretty concerning to Dr. Thackeray as he unwound it from her neck. And I've done a lot of thinking about that moment since then. I can't help but wonder if that is why we felt like we should have her a week earlier. It wouldn't surprise me if there had been some extra help there. If she'd stayed in a week longer, who knows how many more times it would have wrapped, or if I'd gone into labor? I don't know. Interesting to think about anyway. They cut that cord, I asked Nate if she was still a girl :), and then they whisked her away to be weighed and tested. Always the least favorite part for me. I could hear the nurses talking about how clean she was though, which was interesting. Not sure how that happens :), but go Sadie!
I was pretty happy about her weight- for some reason I had worked up the desire and even prayed for her to be really small... HEALTHY of course, but small! I'm not sure why I was so weird, but when they called out her 5 lbs, 14 oz, I could only thank my Heavenly Father for the tender mercy. Maybe that is too weird to be saying out loud and I do realize that sometimes that is a bad thing because they are underdeveloped, but as long as she was healthy, I wanted her to be small, so that she could be small a little longer :). Selfish, I know, but still! I was really looking forward to the skin on skin that I had been able to do with Molly, but they were short a nurse so it wasn't an option this time. Totally bummed me out. They did let Nate hold her over by me and we got to sit and stare at her and love on her every little beautiful feature as they sewed me back up. I couldn't believe her complexion! It was so perfect! Her scrunched up little face between the pink and blue striped hat and the while blanket was overwhelmingly cute! She didn't love the lights so Nate kept shading her eyes. At which she would crack open an eye or two and we'd get a look at those deep dark blue little eyes. It was such a precious moment. I hope I never forget it. Touching her little cheeks and chin. Nate and I being able to talk about the beautiful spirit we feel with this little angel. Being able to appreciate the whole process of getting her here to us. It was neat. It was good that we had this beautiful time together because it was taking the doctors a LOT longer to sew me back up. Apparently my uterus is very thin. It would come undone whenever they would suture it up. There was something about my bladder too, which I never quite understood, but either way, I got VERY restless there, my skin was crawling like crazy, my head was THROBBING, like I was hanging upside-down or something, and it felt like someone was sitting on my chest. I probably should have mentioned it to the anesthesiologist, but I didn't really want to mess with the stuff they were giving me. It was REALLY HARD though! Just laying there through it all. I was worried too. I almost offered to just have them take it out, which I'm glad I didn't, but really- it was taking forever! They did finally get things all put back together though. A huge blessing. Then let me hold sweet Sadie as they pushed me to my recovery room. This is when she and I got to have some skin to skin. That was pretty special. We did that several times that first and second days. She loved it, I loved it. It was pretty neat.
We got to our recovery room and right away had Nate give her a blessing. This is something we have done with all of our babies. I think Becky gave me the idea. I love it. It was fun to hear her full name like that for the first time- really felt like it was supposed to be her name and that was comforting. Choosing names is hard, it's nice to feel like we've had some help. Everything went really well from here on out. We talked with the doctor, the anesthesiologist came in and gave some more instructions, I was feeling pretty good, a teensy bit nauseous, and every time I tried to lay down during those first two days, I would get a wave of yuck, but I was doing really well. As usual.
They wheeled me up to our regular room. We got situated, Nate got the rest of our stuff out of the car, we did a lot of staring at our new little child, and a lot of gratitude just filled the place. We really couldn't have been happier with this little spirit.
Grandpa Hatch, Steve and Grandma Hatch were our first visitors, on that first night. Everyone showered her with gifts, and me! Steve gave me an iTunes gift card with a teeny tiny little vice grip- it was super cute and very thoughtful of him. That first night was okay. It's always hard to take care of a baby while my legs are numb. I think I finally had feeling in them towards the middle of the night. But I'm not able to get up, so that's a bit frustrating. Trying to get the nurses' attentions and this time, getting Nate's was difficult as well. He had worked the mid the night before, which don't even get me started on how irritated I was at his work for that... so he was pretty exhausted. I ended up calling his phone a few times- he woke up to that :). Kinda funny. But really- the poor guy! I felt so bad for him. Sadie was a little angel. She mostly loved being in my arms. Didn't enjoy the bassinet, and didn't care much for the bright light. It was funny how when I would get her to sleep, tuck her in her little bed, and then turn out the lights- all was well until those lights went out- her eyes would just pop right open! It was so cute! I really didn't mind holding and feeding her all night. It was nice mom and Sadie time. They started me on the pain killers the next morning and the roller coaster started with them. It's always a little tricky to find the right balance with the meds. They gave me Norco (a new narcotic) this time, along with the Ibuprofen. It worked just fine as long as we stayed up on it. The gas in my shoulders was pretty prevalent. I kept needing the gas pill for that. But nothing was too much to handle- especially with the unlimited supply of Lorna Doones :).
DAY 2 was probably my favorite. This is the day the kids were planning to come down and meet their new sister. I was a little nervous about the girls driving everyone, we had left them with the Prius and the Fore Runner, so they had to divide up, but that seemed safer than the van at the time. Nate and I said a little prayer that they would get there safely. They had a slight hang up- the Fore Runner was low on gas, but that was it. They got there in one piece (or eight rather :) ).
Now this was the crowning moment in the hospital, seriously, I hope I never forget it. The kids came in and brought THE SWEETEST spirit with them. It was INCREDIBLE! They had a bunch of gifts for Sadie and then the best part- they had all written cards for Sadie and for Nate and I! THE SWEETEST cards! I couldn't believe the love that filled the room, and the Spirit! It was SO AWESOME! The kids were quiet and calm, even Molly! They giggled and oohed and aahed with every squeak and wiggle of Sadie. I LOVED IT! I was seriously in heaven. That was MOM HEAVEN! Nate loved it too of course!
They stayed there, passing around Sadie for FIVE HOURS! I don't think we've EVER had the sibs stay at the hospital THAT LONG! It was amazing. And I loved every minute of it! Didn't get overwhelmed or stressed or anything. It was seriously heaven. Near the end, Nate took them all out to go get some lunch down in the cafeteria and Jack, sweet, cute Jack, decided to stay back and hold Sadie and just asked them to bring some food back for him. It was the sweetest thing to sit there and watch him admiring his new little sister. He couldn't get enough of her! It was beautiful. They came back, everyone finished eating, and then it was time for them to go. I was so sad to see them leave. I just really loved that five hours. Made me happy to be a mom, happy to have THESE kids, and happy with our decision to make room for one more :). She is one lucky little girl to be such an important, special, and loved little spirit before she can even hardly open her eyes. Well, and really, we all loved her before she even got here. I'll always think fondly on the kisses, hugs and giggles Molly gave her while she was in my tummy. I really can't think of a better place for this little girl than in the arms of these valiant brothers and sisters. I hope they all know how blessed they ALL are having so much support and love. I hope it can last.
The rest of the day was sweet. We got the catheter out, the IV came out, and I was able to get off the bed. Grandpa Hatch came again which was nice. And Becky and Grandma Ruthie came as well. We loved showing them our cute cards from the kids. They loved them as well. Then Becky showered Sadie with gifts as well. Cute CUTE clothes and a fun little ice cream stand that Molly has been warming up for her :). It was a nice visit with them. Very peaceful and quiet.
During our whole stay at the hospital, we were trying to catch up on all our marvel movies so that we could go see End Game. It was tough, and Nate did end up buying us a portable DVD player to aid in this endeavor, but we did it! Saw them all. I have to admit I dozed off during all of them, I was getting so tired, having not really slept at all at night, but I got the general idea :).
DAY THREE brought my mom and Simon and the Taylors!
I was bummed for them that Nate and the kids were not there yet, they came during the hour that Nate was picking up the kids (Charity and Kelly had to work), so they missed them, but it was a nice visit with the Taylors. They are always so sweet to visit in the hospital. I loved watching them hold Sadie- they loved her :).
Nate brought the kids down and we had another nice day with the sibs.
They couldn't get enough of her. We let them watch Infinity War with us on the DVD player- that was a lot of fun.
Claire came later and gave Sadie a little BYU t-shirt. It was so fun of Claire to come- she didn't even know I was pregnant until I sent out the picture of Sadie via text. So pretty cool of her to drop everything and visit. She came the next day as well, just before they began our discharge.
We had a really dumb nurse that night. He was a temporary nurse from another floor who didn't know what he was doing. That was quite evident when he reached over, pushed on my belly- I'm just sitting up, taking care of the baby, not laying down like they usually do- and said, "Does that hurt?" Uh... YEAH!! Hello! I just had a baby!! C-section!! Don't touch me! He didn't do anything he was supposed to do. Missed my dose of Norco, and yet still managed to come in about every hour to say, "Just let me know if you need anything" or "Have you slept at all?" Very irritating. I mean, he was a nice guy, probably had good intentions, but not my favorite nurse.
My favorite nurse, who we had twice! was DEB! She was this cute older lady, had a lot of health issues that gave her an interesting perspective on life. She had two kids, grown now, no grandkids. She was THE SWEETEST lady on the planet! She was so good and so fun to talk to. She was our discharge nurse. She loved Sadie. She couldn't compliment us enough on our other kids she'd seen the other day, and she wrote the sweetest note in the Thank You card from the hospital. Made my day really. She was a sweet heart. I loved her. Most of our nurses were great, but she was better than great!
Sunday, the last day, was tricky. It's always a little bitter sweet to leave. I'm overwhelmed by the life ahead, Nate's exhausted and we're both ready to be sleeping in our own beds. It was the same this time. Also, IMC is HORRIBLE at discharging. They took SO LONG again! Not quite as long as with Molly, but really, we did a lot of sitting and waiting with everything all packed up and loaded into the car, so not a lot to entertain ourselves. I took pictures of Nate sleeping with Sadie :) to keep myself busy.
If I was going to do it again, I would not request to get my drugs from the hospital pharmacy. That was the big hold up. So annoying. But we survived and finally got to bring our little lady home with us!
Right when we got home, the Desmonds showed up with some delicious spaghetti for dinner. That was sweet. Brooke has been such a good friend and so helpful through this whole pregnancy even while they've been dealing with their flooding issues.
The kids all took turns passing Sadie around again. We all enjoyed the fact that we were all back together again. Time for life.
Then this was new, they pulled down the blue sheet and had just a clear one up so I got to see them pull my sweet baby girl out! I saw her pointy, full head of dark hair first! I was so excited to see her hair :). It was difficult to see anything because I had to lift my head up, so I didn't keep watching very long, but as Dr. Thackeray has told us and brought up again and again, her cord was wrapped around her neck THREE TIMES! Nate has said that it looked pretty concerning to Dr. Thackeray as he unwound it from her neck. And I've done a lot of thinking about that moment since then. I can't help but wonder if that is why we felt like we should have her a week earlier. It wouldn't surprise me if there had been some extra help there. If she'd stayed in a week longer, who knows how many more times it would have wrapped, or if I'd gone into labor? I don't know. Interesting to think about anyway. They cut that cord, I asked Nate if she was still a girl :), and then they whisked her away to be weighed and tested. Always the least favorite part for me. I could hear the nurses talking about how clean she was though, which was interesting. Not sure how that happens :), but go Sadie!
I was pretty happy about her weight- for some reason I had worked up the desire and even prayed for her to be really small... HEALTHY of course, but small! I'm not sure why I was so weird, but when they called out her 5 lbs, 14 oz, I could only thank my Heavenly Father for the tender mercy. Maybe that is too weird to be saying out loud and I do realize that sometimes that is a bad thing because they are underdeveloped, but as long as she was healthy, I wanted her to be small, so that she could be small a little longer :). Selfish, I know, but still! I was really looking forward to the skin on skin that I had been able to do with Molly, but they were short a nurse so it wasn't an option this time. Totally bummed me out. They did let Nate hold her over by me and we got to sit and stare at her and love on her every little beautiful feature as they sewed me back up. I couldn't believe her complexion! It was so perfect! Her scrunched up little face between the pink and blue striped hat and the while blanket was overwhelmingly cute! She didn't love the lights so Nate kept shading her eyes. At which she would crack open an eye or two and we'd get a look at those deep dark blue little eyes. It was such a precious moment. I hope I never forget it. Touching her little cheeks and chin. Nate and I being able to talk about the beautiful spirit we feel with this little angel. Being able to appreciate the whole process of getting her here to us. It was neat. It was good that we had this beautiful time together because it was taking the doctors a LOT longer to sew me back up. Apparently my uterus is very thin. It would come undone whenever they would suture it up. There was something about my bladder too, which I never quite understood, but either way, I got VERY restless there, my skin was crawling like crazy, my head was THROBBING, like I was hanging upside-down or something, and it felt like someone was sitting on my chest. I probably should have mentioned it to the anesthesiologist, but I didn't really want to mess with the stuff they were giving me. It was REALLY HARD though! Just laying there through it all. I was worried too. I almost offered to just have them take it out, which I'm glad I didn't, but really- it was taking forever! They did finally get things all put back together though. A huge blessing. Then let me hold sweet Sadie as they pushed me to my recovery room. This is when she and I got to have some skin to skin. That was pretty special. We did that several times that first and second days. She loved it, I loved it. It was pretty neat.
We got to our recovery room and right away had Nate give her a blessing. This is something we have done with all of our babies. I think Becky gave me the idea. I love it. It was fun to hear her full name like that for the first time- really felt like it was supposed to be her name and that was comforting. Choosing names is hard, it's nice to feel like we've had some help. Everything went really well from here on out. We talked with the doctor, the anesthesiologist came in and gave some more instructions, I was feeling pretty good, a teensy bit nauseous, and every time I tried to lay down during those first two days, I would get a wave of yuck, but I was doing really well. As usual.
They wheeled me up to our regular room. We got situated, Nate got the rest of our stuff out of the car, we did a lot of staring at our new little child, and a lot of gratitude just filled the place. We really couldn't have been happier with this little spirit.
Grandpa Hatch, Steve and Grandma Hatch were our first visitors, on that first night. Everyone showered her with gifts, and me! Steve gave me an iTunes gift card with a teeny tiny little vice grip- it was super cute and very thoughtful of him. That first night was okay. It's always hard to take care of a baby while my legs are numb. I think I finally had feeling in them towards the middle of the night. But I'm not able to get up, so that's a bit frustrating. Trying to get the nurses' attentions and this time, getting Nate's was difficult as well. He had worked the mid the night before, which don't even get me started on how irritated I was at his work for that... so he was pretty exhausted. I ended up calling his phone a few times- he woke up to that :). Kinda funny. But really- the poor guy! I felt so bad for him. Sadie was a little angel. She mostly loved being in my arms. Didn't enjoy the bassinet, and didn't care much for the bright light. It was funny how when I would get her to sleep, tuck her in her little bed, and then turn out the lights- all was well until those lights went out- her eyes would just pop right open! It was so cute! I really didn't mind holding and feeding her all night. It was nice mom and Sadie time. They started me on the pain killers the next morning and the roller coaster started with them. It's always a little tricky to find the right balance with the meds. They gave me Norco (a new narcotic) this time, along with the Ibuprofen. It worked just fine as long as we stayed up on it. The gas in my shoulders was pretty prevalent. I kept needing the gas pill for that. But nothing was too much to handle- especially with the unlimited supply of Lorna Doones :).
DAY 2 was probably my favorite. This is the day the kids were planning to come down and meet their new sister. I was a little nervous about the girls driving everyone, we had left them with the Prius and the Fore Runner, so they had to divide up, but that seemed safer than the van at the time. Nate and I said a little prayer that they would get there safely. They had a slight hang up- the Fore Runner was low on gas, but that was it. They got there in one piece (or eight rather :) ).
Now this was the crowning moment in the hospital, seriously, I hope I never forget it. The kids came in and brought THE SWEETEST spirit with them. It was INCREDIBLE! They had a bunch of gifts for Sadie and then the best part- they had all written cards for Sadie and for Nate and I! THE SWEETEST cards! I couldn't believe the love that filled the room, and the Spirit! It was SO AWESOME! The kids were quiet and calm, even Molly! They giggled and oohed and aahed with every squeak and wiggle of Sadie. I LOVED IT! I was seriously in heaven. That was MOM HEAVEN! Nate loved it too of course!
They stayed there, passing around Sadie for FIVE HOURS! I don't think we've EVER had the sibs stay at the hospital THAT LONG! It was amazing. And I loved every minute of it! Didn't get overwhelmed or stressed or anything. It was seriously heaven. Near the end, Nate took them all out to go get some lunch down in the cafeteria and Jack, sweet, cute Jack, decided to stay back and hold Sadie and just asked them to bring some food back for him. It was the sweetest thing to sit there and watch him admiring his new little sister. He couldn't get enough of her! It was beautiful. They came back, everyone finished eating, and then it was time for them to go. I was so sad to see them leave. I just really loved that five hours. Made me happy to be a mom, happy to have THESE kids, and happy with our decision to make room for one more :). She is one lucky little girl to be such an important, special, and loved little spirit before she can even hardly open her eyes. Well, and really, we all loved her before she even got here. I'll always think fondly on the kisses, hugs and giggles Molly gave her while she was in my tummy. I really can't think of a better place for this little girl than in the arms of these valiant brothers and sisters. I hope they all know how blessed they ALL are having so much support and love. I hope it can last.
The rest of the day was sweet. We got the catheter out, the IV came out, and I was able to get off the bed. Grandpa Hatch came again which was nice. And Becky and Grandma Ruthie came as well. We loved showing them our cute cards from the kids. They loved them as well. Then Becky showered Sadie with gifts as well. Cute CUTE clothes and a fun little ice cream stand that Molly has been warming up for her :). It was a nice visit with them. Very peaceful and quiet.
During our whole stay at the hospital, we were trying to catch up on all our marvel movies so that we could go see End Game. It was tough, and Nate did end up buying us a portable DVD player to aid in this endeavor, but we did it! Saw them all. I have to admit I dozed off during all of them, I was getting so tired, having not really slept at all at night, but I got the general idea :).
DAY THREE brought my mom and Simon and the Taylors!
Nate brought the kids down and we had another nice day with the sibs.
They couldn't get enough of her. We let them watch Infinity War with us on the DVD player- that was a lot of fun.
Claire came later and gave Sadie a little BYU t-shirt. It was so fun of Claire to come- she didn't even know I was pregnant until I sent out the picture of Sadie via text. So pretty cool of her to drop everything and visit. She came the next day as well, just before they began our discharge.
We had a really dumb nurse that night. He was a temporary nurse from another floor who didn't know what he was doing. That was quite evident when he reached over, pushed on my belly- I'm just sitting up, taking care of the baby, not laying down like they usually do- and said, "Does that hurt?" Uh... YEAH!! Hello! I just had a baby!! C-section!! Don't touch me! He didn't do anything he was supposed to do. Missed my dose of Norco, and yet still managed to come in about every hour to say, "Just let me know if you need anything" or "Have you slept at all?" Very irritating. I mean, he was a nice guy, probably had good intentions, but not my favorite nurse.
My favorite nurse, who we had twice! was DEB! She was this cute older lady, had a lot of health issues that gave her an interesting perspective on life. She had two kids, grown now, no grandkids. She was THE SWEETEST lady on the planet! She was so good and so fun to talk to. She was our discharge nurse. She loved Sadie. She couldn't compliment us enough on our other kids she'd seen the other day, and she wrote the sweetest note in the Thank You card from the hospital. Made my day really. She was a sweet heart. I loved her. Most of our nurses were great, but she was better than great!
Sunday, the last day, was tricky. It's always a little bitter sweet to leave. I'm overwhelmed by the life ahead, Nate's exhausted and we're both ready to be sleeping in our own beds. It was the same this time. Also, IMC is HORRIBLE at discharging. They took SO LONG again! Not quite as long as with Molly, but really, we did a lot of sitting and waiting with everything all packed up and loaded into the car, so not a lot to entertain ourselves. I took pictures of Nate sleeping with Sadie :) to keep myself busy.
Right when we got home, the Desmonds showed up with some delicious spaghetti for dinner. That was sweet. Brooke has been such a good friend and so helpful through this whole pregnancy even while they've been dealing with their flooding issues.
The kids all took turns passing Sadie around again. We all enjoyed the fact that we were all back together again. Time for life.
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